Only a third of diabetic people in India control it properly, finds study

Only a third of the people with diabetes in India have good control of the disease while less than half have good control of blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol, and only 7.7 per cent meet all three targets, a new study has found.

The study funded by Indian Council of Medical Research and coordinated by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation considered 113,043 people across 30 states and Union Territories of India.

The study found that 36.3 per cent of the people with diabetes only could achieve good glycemic control, while 48.8 per cent were able to control good blood pressure well and 41.5 per cent sustained good LDL cholesterol levels.

It was found that those with higher education, those staying in rural areas were able to control diabetes better. Men too scored better than women in this regard.

As many as 16.7 per cent of the diabetic population surveyed said they used a blood glucose monitor to check their blood sugars at home. Only 36.9 per cent of those on insulin performed any self-monitoring of blood glucose, notwithstanding the guidelines that all such individuals should self-monitor their glucose levels regularly.

In another interesting finding, the survey found that less than 20 per cent of the diabetic population took three servings of fruits and vegetables per day as against the WHO recommendation of five servings a day.

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Less than 25 per cent of people performed moderate to vigorous physical activity that is needed to control blood sugar levels.

The survey sampled adults aged more than 20 years, with 33,537 people from urban centres and 79,506 rural residents.

The study is the first epidemiological study that has widely covered participants from across the country. The results have been published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

The survey noted that the findings indicated the suboptimal achievement of treatment goals and health behaviours needed to control diabetes and related complications in India.